Saturday, May 5, 2012

Project Restored!

After troubleshooting the issue, I managed to rebuild the project. I had created so many test scripts within the original project; there was bound to be a conflict. Unfortunately, this conflict caused the entire project file to fail to compile or build without sufficient errors to track down the problem.

I rebuilt the project and deleted any failed (or unnecessary) testing scripts. An unfortunate side effect was the need to rebuild all the models (with associated references to existing scripts). Luckily, there were only a few models in the game (cylon raider, npc viper, two asteroids and the player's viper).

After getting all of this resolved, I started to complete the goals for the new UI; however, I discovered a major flaw in my Faction Control algorithms. While the script was functional (at least before the rebuild), it was a performance hog. I went back and streamlined the process and eliminated every unnecessary statement without compromising the intended utility of the script. Since, it's excessive memory usage would have impacted the ability of the player to test the next prototype; I dropped the UI in favor of fixing this issue.

After fixing the issue, I finished up the UI portion and got everything to work (at least I think I did). Here's the latest prototype:

This is not a webplayer like the last few builds. I'm still working on getting the database to play nice wih the web. Just download the build zip file and unzip it to anywhere on your computer and select the PrototypeV2b12.exe to run the game. It will build a database in the Build folder and run the game. If you play the game again, I recommend deleting the database folder. While it shouldn't be a big deal (and won't after the database functions are fully programmed into the game), it could create duplicate database entries that could cause some problems if they are not cleaned before each use.